Southern Appalachian's beer to be sold statewide

Southern Appalachian Brewery's Hendersonville-made beers will soon flow from taps across North Carolina after SAB signed on with a wholesaler that will make its beers available statewide for the first time.

Photo courtesy of Kelly Cubbin

By Gary GlancyTimes-News correspondent

Published: Saturday, February 22, 2014 at 2:34 p.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, February 22, 2014 at 2:34 p.m.

Soon, Black Bear Stout, Copperhead Amber and other Hendersonville-made beers will begin flowing from taps across North Carolina as Southern Appalachian Brewery has signed on with a wholesaler that will make its beers available statewide for the first time.

Last week Greensboro-based Freedom Beverage made its first keg pickup from the brewery on Locust Street in the Historic Seventh Avenue District, just short of three years after the husband-and-wife team of Andy and Kelly Cubbin moved their brewing operation from Fletcher and added a tasting room inside the same space.

It is part of an overall plan to expand and diversify the business in 2014 to meet demand and keep pace with Western North Carolina's bubbling craft beer industry.

SAB produced 750 barrels of beer in 2013, about 95 percent of which was sold in the tasting room. The rest was delivered by Andy Cubbin himself to accounts in Hendersonville and Waynesville – a time-consuming endeavor that took him away from brewing and other responsibilities.

With the new deal, SAB plans to double production this year.

“It's very difficult to self-distribute, even though it's legal in our great state,” Andy Cubbin said. “Whether you have a couple employees and a couple of trucks, or whether you pay (the same percent of your budget) to your distributor that has a couple dozen trucks and couple dozen employees, it's going to cost what it's going to cost and there are a lot of benefits with using a distributor. Most people I talk to that have gone with a distributor say, 'I can't believe we were doing this ourselves for so long.'”

Greg Leone, beer brand manager for Freedom Beverage, said his company is a “true, 100 percent craft-beer house” that prefers to carry small, “boutique” brands and grow them slowly. SAB was attractive, he said, because it's an established brewery with a strong product line and smart business approach of growing slowly.

“I've heard great things,” Leone said. “I just tried the Black Bear Stout and the IPA and they were both very good. I think their price point is right in line and I've heard nothing but good things up there in the mountains. That's really what we needed and was really kind of our goal, to get somebody up that way because the support up there for local breweries is so strong.”

According to Leone, Freedom will focus most of SAB's distribution initially to Western North Carolina, with a handful of kegs allocated to accounts in major markets such as Charlotte, Raleigh and Wilmington.

“So they've got a little bit (of exposure) around the state right now,” Leone said. “I don't know much we'll be able to get out (to those places); it just depends how much Asheville and Hendersonville and all that area eats up, and then whatever is left we'll haul out for some other people to get some cracks at it. We'll grow with him and keep an eye on things and make sure his local area is taken care of first.”

More taps coming soon

While SAB's larger tanks will be devoted to its core brands to meet distribution orders, a new 15-gallon pilot brewing system will allow Andy Cubbin to experiment and produce small, “one-off” batches of specialty beers for the tasting room.

The Cubbins plan to add six new taps soon, which will double selection for customers and include a couple of rare, Belgian-style guest brews.

“We've been doing this for about seven years, and seeing the difference in (the WNC beer industry) in those seven years is huge,” Andy Cubbin said. “When we started in Hendersonville, we only had three beers and that was going to be our startup, but seven years ago you could get by with a few products. Now, with all of the breweries in Asheville kind of stepping up their game – Wicked Weed, of course, is the example with 20-something beers on at any one time – and that's what people are expecting now. That's kind of the new face of craft breweries, especially when you've got a market like North Carolina and Western North Carolina.”

He also plans to capitalize on another trend in craft brewing – barrel-aged beers – with a new wood program including whiskey barrels from Kentucky for beers such as Imperial Stout and California wine barrels for Belgian-style wild/sour beer production.

The barrel-aged beers will be stored in “The Cave,” a walled-off culvert on SAB's property formerly used by the old Coca-Cola plant that operated there. SAB also plans to acquire significant additional space behind the brewery to be used as a warehouse and for further barrel-aging, and Andy Cubbin said “I definitely see us” eventually packaging his beer in 22-ounce or 750-milliliter specialty bottles.

Other goals for 2014 include expanding SAB's entertainment lineup and adding a music stage and covered seating area for its popular outdoor space.

<p>Soon, Black Bear Stout, Copperhead Amber and other Hendersonville-made beers will begin flowing from taps across North Carolina as Southern Appalachian Brewery has signed on with a wholesaler that will make its beers available statewide for the first time.</p><p>Last week Greensboro-based Freedom Beverage made its first keg pickup from the brewery on Locust Street in the Historic Seventh Avenue District, just short of three years after the husband-and-wife team of Andy and Kelly Cubbin moved their brewing operation from Fletcher and added a tasting room inside the same space.</p><p>It is part of an overall plan to expand and diversify the business in 2014 to meet demand and keep pace with Western North Carolina's bubbling craft beer industry.</p><p>SAB produced 750 barrels of beer in 2013, about 95 percent of which was sold in the tasting room. The rest was delivered by Andy Cubbin himself to accounts in Hendersonville and Waynesville – a time-consuming endeavor that took him away from brewing and other responsibilities.</p><p>With the new deal, SAB plans to double production this year.</p><p>“It's very difficult to self-distribute, even though it's legal in our great state,” Andy Cubbin said. “Whether you have a couple employees and a couple of trucks, or whether you pay (the same percent of your budget) to your distributor that has a couple dozen trucks and couple dozen employees, it's going to cost what it's going to cost and there are a lot of benefits with using a distributor. Most people I talk to that have gone with a distributor say, 'I can't believe we were doing this ourselves for so long.'”</p><p>Greg Leone, beer brand manager for Freedom Beverage, said his company is a “true, 100 percent craft-beer house” that prefers to carry small, “boutique” brands and grow them slowly. SAB was attractive, he said, because it's an established brewery with a strong product line and smart business approach of growing slowly.</p><p>“I've heard great things,” Leone said. “I just tried the Black Bear Stout and the IPA and they were both very good. I think their price point is right in line and I've heard nothing but good things up there in the mountains. That's really what we needed and was really kind of our goal, to get somebody up that way because the support up there for local breweries is so strong.”</p><p>According to Leone, Freedom will focus most of SAB's distribution initially to Western North Carolina, with a handful of kegs allocated to accounts in major markets such as Charlotte, Raleigh and Wilmington.</p><p>“So they've got a little bit (of exposure) around the state right now,” Leone said. “I don't know much we'll be able to get out (to those places); it just depends how much Asheville and Hendersonville and all that area eats up, and then whatever is left we'll haul out for some other people to get some cracks at it. We'll grow with him and keep an eye on things and make sure his local area is taken care of first.”</p><p></p><p><b>More taps coming soon</b></p><p></p><p>While SAB's larger tanks will be devoted to its core brands to meet distribution orders, a new 15-gallon pilot brewing system will allow Andy Cubbin to experiment and produce small, “one-off” batches of specialty beers for the tasting room.</p><p>The Cubbins plan to add six new taps soon, which will double selection for customers and include a couple of rare, Belgian-style guest brews.</p><p>“We've been doing this for about seven years, and seeing the difference in (the WNC beer industry) in those seven years is huge,” Andy Cubbin said. “When we started in Hendersonville, we only had three beers and that was going to be our startup, but seven years ago you could get by with a few products. Now, with all of the breweries in Asheville kind of stepping up their game – Wicked Weed, of course, is the example with 20-something beers on at any one time – and that's what people are expecting now. That's kind of the new face of craft breweries, especially when you've got a market like North Carolina and Western North Carolina.”</p><p>He also plans to capitalize on another trend in craft brewing – barrel-aged beers – with a new wood program including whiskey barrels from Kentucky for beers such as Imperial Stout and California wine barrels for Belgian-style wild/sour beer production.</p><p>The barrel-aged beers will be stored in “The Cave,” a walled-off culvert on SAB's property formerly used by the old Coca-Cola plant that operated there. SAB also plans to acquire significant additional space behind the brewery to be used as a warehouse and for further barrel-aging, and Andy Cubbin said “I definitely see us” eventually packaging his beer in 22-ounce or 750-milliliter specialty bottles.</p><p>Other goals for 2014 include expanding SAB's entertainment lineup and adding a music stage and covered seating area for its popular outdoor space.</p>